Posted on: 11th December 2018, by Magrathea
Welcome to the latest edition of the Magrathea Newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
Digest authentication with IP screening on SIP
For SIP originated calls, we historically have offered two separate secure ways for your traffic to be authenticated. Registration via username and password, or alternatively from a pre authorised IP address.
We are pleased to offer a new dual authentication solution which combines both ways, to increase security and also give you more choice as to how to configure your side.
Your username and password registration can have an IP mask applied to it, so that our servers recognise which account you are using but only allowing traffic using that username if the IP address is one that has been pre-registered.
As well as offering an additional layer of security, it will also mean that you can use the same IP for authentication on two different accounts which we could not previously offer – for example when using a standard account and a gold account simultaneously.
There is no charge to use this and if you would like to use it on your accounts, please contact support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk.
Frequently Asked Questions
We have published two new information sheets onto our website to help our clients to troubleshoot and resolve common issues that crop up.
This guide deals with porting issues – common faults with ported numbers and how we can narrow them down for a quick resolution. For example, numbers becoming ‘un-ported’ or problems on the range holder’s network. https://www.magrathea-telecom.co.uk/assets/Client-Downloads/Porting-in-the-UK-Common-Faults.pdf
This guide deals with the most common issues that are raised into our ticketing system – the most common questions that we are asked about regarding inbound or outbound calls via your account. For example, incoming calls not reaching you, outgoing calls either failing or experiencing quality issues and other general queries. https://www.magrathea-telecom.co.uk/assets/Client-Downloads/Faults-Frequently-Asked-Questions.pdf
We hope that these guides will help you to resolve some of the questions that you might have without having to wait for a response from our Support Team. It is always nice to speak to our clients however we appreciate there are times where your priority is getting an answer rather than waiting for the personal touch!
RestAPI and Client Portal
Our Client Portal and RestAPI have now been live since the summer and have been very well received – thank you to all those using them for your positive feedback on these.
These tools allow clients to manage their accounts, access information on our services and make simple changes to accounts – including funds transfers. If you would like to use either the Client Portal or RESTAPI, please contact support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk and we can set you up with access to this very quickly.
We will soon be issuing notice that the feature to check your account balance via our website will be removed, therefore clients are encouraged to start using the RestAPI or Client Portal for this purpose as soon as possible.
To reassure our clients who have fully integrated our original NTSAPI into their systems and processes, we currently have no plans to retire this tool and will continue to support its features. However, we are unlikely to add any new features or commands with any future features only being incorporated in the new RESTAPI.
Emergency Services calls in the event of a powercut
As part of the recent update to Ofcom’s General Conditions, they have provided guidance for PECN and PECS providers as to clarify obligations to ensure access to the Emergency Services is maintained in the event of a power cut. As part of our work with ITSPA we have met with Ofcom to try and better understand their intentions behind this guidance as it does not make clear who should bear the responsibility in the wide variety of scenarios that our clients cover. Ofcom have confirmed that each case will be considered on it’s own merits but that they expect all providers involved in provision of services to a user to work together to ensure there is an adequate solution in place.
This could have serious impact for many of you and therefore we strongly suggest you read the guidance, if you have not already, and take advice if you have any doubts on how you can ensure compliance. The guidance can be found here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/123118/guidance-emergency-access-power-cut.pdf
If you do not already have access to 999/112 via Magrathea, we can offer a fully reliable service that has been extensively tested by the BT Emergency Handling Authority (EHA). Once you are signed up for this service, name and address data can be submitted via our API’s and 999/112 calls passed via your outbound account will be sent through to the EHA.
To help our clients in meeting their obligations under the new GC’s we will be repeating the special offer we ran previously. This offer for existing clients is a discounted set up charge of £200 + VAT for this service and will now run until the end of December 2018
If you would like more information on this service, please contact us on support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk or you can call us – 0345 004 0040.
Nuisance Calls
A reminder that since October, Ofcom have the right to withdraw number ranges from a range holder if they have significant concern over nuisance calls originating from a particular number range.
Whilst we make every reasonable effort to ensure our ranges are not involved with nuisance calls, due to the risk of the impact of ranges being withdrawn we are renewing our efforts to prevent and detect misuse and in turn encourage each of our clients to review their own customer base to ensure compliance with all current regulations and guidance.
To help us to satisfy our obligations as a range holder, we will continue to monitor and review and will be asking clients to provide evidence of compliance with the Ofcom guidelines where necessary.
Ofcom to cap the cost of 070 calls
You will probably be aware by now that Ofcom published its final statement on the regulation of the wholesale market for call termination to numbers in the 070 number range. The changes will come into effect on the 1st October 2019. The 070 final statement is available on Ofcom’s website here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-1/review-070-number-range.
The effect of the new regulation will be to cap the wholesale charge for terminating calls to 070 numbers at the same level as the wholesale charge for terminating calls to mobile numbers. This means that, when a customer makes a call to a 070 number, the maximum rate that the 070 service provider can charge that customer’s communications provider will be capped at the same level as a call to a mobile number. This change will apply to all 070 charge bands.
Introducing Simon Banks & Alison Kerevan
Our team has expanded again and we are very pleased to announce that Simon Banks has joined us to work as part of the technical team, concentrating on development. Simon is a very experienced developer and brings with him a great deal of experience from previous roles and is already a great asset to the team here at Magrathea.
Alison joins us in a support role with her efforts to improve international routing for our call origination service already evident in our call statistics.
As always here at Magrathea we appreciate your comments and feedback, if there is anything you would like to contact us about, or you would like to opt out of receiving future newsletters, please email info@magrathea-telecom.co.uk